Hello! Yes, another dev log so soon, I'm just catching up on some things I've been meaning to share but haven't had the time until now.
Today I'd like to share how leveling up and game progress will work. In the original game, you would earn XP from killing enemies and would level up to unlock a random weapon you didn't own.
The rewrite will be featuring this again, but with some changes to keep things under control. I think unlocking new weapons in the middle of a match was a big draw for the game and I would like to recapture that magic.
So, once again, killing enemies will grant you XP, up until you reach level 100. Once you are level 100 or more, XP from kills will be disabled and there will only be time-based ways to earn XP so you can focus on playing the game instead of trying to find weird shit to do to grind. There will also be a couple restrictions made so grinding isn't super easy, but not too many because I think it's kind of fun to use mutators and stuff to make your own XP grind set up.
Anyways, the only way to earn XP post-level 100 is by completing matches, but I will be finding other ways that are time-based. When you complete a match, your XP gain will be a certain percentage of how much you need to level up. So you don't really need to worry about being too high of a level to earn level ups at a steady pace. The longer the match goes on, the larger this percantage becomes. It maxes out after about 30 minutes of game time.
Like I mentioned waayyyy before I started development on the rewrite, your current save file will not transfer to the rewrite, so you will need to start over. Or do you? I am also introducing a new feature for "veteran" players. The game will take a look at your profile and determine when you first started playing. If you started playing before a certain time, then you will unlock the ability to unlock all the weapons from the start and skip straight to level 100. You choose to do this yourself anytime you want, so if you want to start over from level 1 you're welcome to.
Why is leveling up so important when there are a finite amount of weapons to unlock? Well I'm glad you asked, today I'd like to introduce the thing I've been working pretty hard on...
Weapon skins! Some of you guessed it already, but I'm excited to share this none the less.
Weapon skins are new items that make your guns look different, but have no stat altering effects, they are merely for show. After you reach level 100, every time you level up you have a 20% chance to unlock a random weapon skin that you don't own yet. Gold tickets are making a return as well, you can still find a golden ticket instead of a random golden weapon and use the ticket on a weapon of your choice.
Weapon skins have different qualities, and the better weapon skin quality the cooler it looks! For example, common quality weapon skins are just boring solid colors and patterns, while more rare skins have a more exciting look and can even feature special effects and changes to the weapon's sound effects, look or even special death animations for enemy players!
So, how many weapon skins will there be? 10? 15? 30?
How about..
1,706! 1,706 weapon skins are currently in the game right now. Wowzers! How can little old me make so many gosh darn weapon skins?
The weapon skin system features a colorized pattern system, similar to how the ship customization works in Tunnel Divers. I can draw up to 3 different patterns on a weapon, and give them any color I want.
Additionally, I can assign them special effects and make them glow different colors too. I can also completely change the look of the weapon to an entirely different sprite.
Basically, when I make a weapon skin, I can assign its properties to EVERY weapon in the game. So when I want to make a white and green striped skin, this skin can be applied to every weapon in the game in only a couple of lines of code. This makes adding a bunch of new skins really easy.
I have generated 1,706 weapon skins myself, but for the rest of the skins that are added I want the community to make. Theres a little weapon skin creator in the game any player can access, every player is welcome to use it but for right now the only way to share your is to generate a JSON string on your clipboard.
I won't be taking weapon skins from players at this time, but thats because I want it to be done through Steam Workshop. It's not implemented yet, but the community could vote up their favorite weapon skins and I can add the top most Workshop submissions to the game. When a set of weapon skins are added, the author is granted credit for every one of them and the player will be able to click their name on the weapon skin selection menu and visit their Workshop page.
So with that exciting new feature finally out in the open, I'd also like to introduce the new DLC for the game, two new DLCs in fact! You have already probably guessed they are weapon skins. I have made their Steam store pages visible today and you're welcome to check them out below:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1018760/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1018761/
Each DLC will give you the entire weapon skin set for $2 each. So if you buy the Platinum weapon skins, you will automatically unlock the skin for every weapon in the game (and every weapon added in the future). Even if you're not level 100 yet, you will still be able to equip them. I may add more DLC skins in the future.
These weapon skins are only available through the DLC, you won't be able to randomly unlock them. Even owning the Tunnel Divers DLC will get you a special weapon skin! For the love of God please give me money.
As a side note, B-Man will NEVER feature loot boxes. When you purchase a weapon skin DLC, you will get what you are shown. All other weapon skins must be randomly unlocked by leveling up and cannot be paid for.
Weapon skin usage is totally free, you won't need to own any DLC to unlock weapon skins. So you can not spend a single dime on this game and still have a chance to sport yourself a super rare weapon skin to show off!
B-Man will also not be implemented into the Steam Inventory. Weapon skin unlocks will be handled by my cloud saving. This will allow me to release the game on different platforms, and not just Steam. Also the Steam Marketplace is sketchy as fuck and I don't want B-Man to mix with the wrong people.
The purpose of the weapon skins is to increase the replayability of the game. While I would like to use them to generate income, this is the main reason why I added them. I'm not sure how long it'd take to unlock every skin in the game or if it's even possible, but I think I like it like that. Maybe it doesn't take as long as you think.
So, all thats exciting but I do have some sad news. I have decided to cut two weapons from the game, the Old Pistol and the Old Shotgun.
These weapons were mostly jokes and I think most players can agree they're mostly useless. They're also not very good for the weapon skin system, however I'm not deleting them entirely, they will be "retired" as super rare weapon skins, also known as "Artifacts".
Artifacts are extremely rare weapon skins that are unique to the weapon they're assigned to. For example, the Old Pistol is a Pistol skin that changes the sound effects and even brings back the death animation you get when you killed someone with an Old weapon. The Old shotgun is for the Pump Action.
Artifacts will usually have a unique effect for them that make them stand out from other skins just like this. So, the plan is to have at least 1 Artifact skin for every weapon in the game. I can't promise I will achieve that goal but I'm gonna try. There are about 5 Artifacts in the game so far.
So, my apologies if you were a big Old weapon fan, but they just weren't a good fit anymore as fully featured weapons. There is 1 more weapon I might cut from the game but I'd like to avoid it if possible.
So, when can you play the beta? I am thinking March 8th, since thats when I have a long weekend and can work on making sure the game has basic functionality when problems arise.
The beta will be available to players who own ANY of my DLC. This includes, Premium, the new weapon skin DLCs and even the Tunnel Divers DLC. All of it will grant you access to the beta on March 8th, instantly. It will only be available on Steam for now, when the rewrite takes over the current version then it will continue to be F2P as always. The new DLC will be available for purchase on March 8th as well and you will be able to use the skins immediately.
That's all I have today! Thanks for reading. -S